Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) ordered a criminal investigation Wednesday into allegations that educators in the Fairfax County Public School system facilitated abortions.

The governor’s office cited reports that school officials arranged and paid for abortions with school funding. The reports indicated that the FCPS administration knew such things were happening.

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“I am deeply concerned with the allegations that Fairfax County Public Schools officials arranged for minors to get abortions without parental consent and may have misused public funds to pay for them. I am directing the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation to open a full criminal investigation into the matter immediately,” Youngkin said in a statement.

The school system said earlier this month that it was investigating the abortion allegations. Two former students alleged that in 2021, a school social worker scheduled the abortion procedures, paid for them, and did not involve their families.

Virginia law requires that at least one parent be notified before a minor receives an abortion unless a judge grants a bypass.

“We are prepared to fully cooperate in the state police investigation into these 2021 allegations. As this is an ongoing personnel matter, we are unable to comment further at this time,” FCPS told 7News in a statement.

Youngkin told the outlet that he has long been frustrated with FCPS. “My frustration with Fairfax County Public Schools runs deep, and it, of course, starts with respecting the role of parents in their children’s lives,” Youngkin told 7News on Wednesday. He added that parents have the right to make or be involved in significant decisions that affect their children.

The governor supports the district’s internal investigation but says it won’t go far enough because the allegations are criminal.

“They are conducting an administrative investigation, and I support them doing that, given the nature of these allegations, but these allegations rise to criminal conduct, and that’s why I have asked the Bureau of Criminal Investigation at State Police to get directly involved,” Youngkin told 7News. “It’s critical that we understand that if there was criminal conduct undertaken by Fairfax County officials that they are held fully accountable.”

The two leading contenders in the Virginia governor’s race have contrasting views on abortion in the state.

Virginia Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears told the outlet that she supports the investigation into the school system. “The allegations that Fairfax County Public Schools provided minors with access to abortion services without any parental knowledge or consent is abhorrent,” she said.

Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger has not commented on the investigation and has not said directly whether she supports parental consent for abortion. When asked, the former congresswoman elaborated about how Virginia should institute a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion. Still, she noted that as a mother of three daughters, she wants to be involved in “all of the decisions my daughters make, including what they wear to prom.”

Youngkin says the allegations undermine “every ounce of trust and faith that parents place in schools.”

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Fairfax County Superintendent Michelle Reid sent a letter to the school community last week, suggesting that the allegations are unacceptable: “I want to stress that at no time would the situation as described in these allegations be acceptable in Fairfax County Public Schools.”

FCPS is the largest school system in Virginia and one of the largest in the United States.